Disney World Ending Magical Express Airport Shuttle
Walt Disney World is ending its Magical Express shuttle service to resorts from Orlando International Airport. This comes after the company “temporarily suspended” Extra Magic Hours, FastPass+, the Dining Plan, and more.
All of this is still top of mind for many Walt Disney World vacation planners, which is clear to us based on the number of questions we receive asking when the Disney Dining Plan, FastPass+, Extra Magic Hours, etc. will be brought back. In most cases, our expectation is that Walt Disney World will restore these things this spring and summer.
When it comes to resuming normalcy at Walt Disney World, it’s clear that this won’t be a simple matter of reverting to the status quo, pre-March of last year. Instead, Walt Disney World will use this period of abnormal to retire and transition away from various offerings to new things, and offer a “soft reset” on the guest experience. We now have our next glimpse of what that means for later in 2022…
Walt Disney World will end the Disney’s Magical Express service for airport transportation starting with arrivals on January 1, 2022. Disney has attributed this to the expansion of options for guests, including the rise of Uber and Lyft. “Vacationers have more options to choose from than ever for transportation, including ride-share services that save time and offer more flexibility to go where they want, when they want.”
Disney’s Magical Express will continue for arrivals and departures through 2021, but anyone planning a Walt Disney World vacation in 2022 will need to rent a car or plan on using Uber, Lyft, or whatever other options are out there. (Although not yet confirmed officially, it’s entirely possible that Minnie Vans have been permanently retired.)
Note that complimentary transportation options within Walt Disney World — such as buses, monorails, boats, and the Skyliner gondolas — will continue to be available without changes. This only impacts Disney’s Magical Express, the airport-to-hotel transportation service, and does not have any bearing on internal or resort-to-park transportation.
It’s worth noting here that the Disney’s Magical Express airport shuttle service is operated by Mears, not Disney itself. Mears is a transportation company with coach buses and taxis that enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the Orlando market for years…before Uber and Lyft debuted.
Last year, Mears furloughed 83% of its workforce and ended up permanently laying off nearly 200 workers. Even prior to that, the company had run into trouble–Mears has been extensively involved with ride-share lawsuits and other litigation over the past few years.
It’s also possible that the relationship between Disney and Mears soured when Minnie Vans were rolled out a couple of years ago. Up until that point, some guests were reticent to use Uber and Lyft due to horror stories, and still opted for the overpriced Mears taxis. From then on, Walt Disney World had a monopoly on overpriced private transportation–it made almost no sense to pay triple the price of ride-share for a taxi when Minnie Vans offered a more polished and “magical” experience.
This is all to say that there might be more to this story than meets the eye. Disney could see the writing on the wall for Mears, or the relationship between the two companies might’ve been irreparably damaged to the point that they could not negotiate a new contract once the current one ends.
Basically, we have a tough time taking this cut at face value–or being entirely due to the reasons given by Disney. As discussed in our Guide to Disney’s Magical Express, the “free” service is incredibly valuable to Walt Disney World because it makes tourists a captive audience, less likely or able to dine off-site, visit other theme parks, or spend money elsewhere.
Long ago, Walt Disney World determined that the increase in average per guest spending with Disney’s Magical Express plus the perceived convenience and goodwill obtained from offering the service outweighs the average per guest cost of offering the service. It’s unlikely that has changed, especially as on-site food prices have increased and Central Florida theme park competition has become more fierce.
Beyond that, this change is being announced at a time when hotel occupancy at Walt Disney World is abysmal–and that’s even with several resorts still closed. With no convention business, minimal outside events, and a travel recovery expected to take until 2023, cutting Disney’s Magical Express will only exacerbate that problem.
We’ve been discussing Walt Disney World’s Disappearing On-Site Advantage for years now, and the elimination of Magical Express only makes that worse. The airport transportation service has been routinely cited by on-site advocates as one reason to still stay in a Disney-owned hotel. Uber and Lyft are great, and we’ve taken them instead of DME several times, but this is still a big blow for consumers.
It’s also potentially going to be detrimental to Walt Disney World. We’re anticipating a ton of negative feedback about this change–likely on par with the addition of resort parking fees a few years ago. As with that change, we can’t help but wonder if Disney will come to regret this move as being one that pushes more guests off-site and ends up costing Disney money in the long run.
We’ve also long been asking Is Walt Disney World Eroding Fan Goodwill? with previous decisions like this. We maintain that they have, but the booming economy has insulated Disney from the negative short-term consequences of so many cuts and guest-unfriendly decisions. Unfortunately, the current hotel woes are pretty easy to hand-wave away given all that’s happening in the world. But we nevertheless question whether occupancy remains low even as park attendance is rising because more guests have already determined staying on-site is simply not worth it.
Finally, while some Walt Disney World fans might point to the Brightline train station at Disney Springs being the eventual replacement for Disney’s Magical Express, that’s still several years away. (The South Florida to MCO link has a scheduled 2022 opening date, but that does not include the Disney Springs station.)
Moreover, that route from the airport to hotels will be convoluted and time-consuming, so it’s not really a viable alternative. To the contrary, the whole reason the Brightline station is being built at Disney Springs instead of the more logical location by the ESPN Wide World of Sports is because Disney did not plan on the train serving as airport transportation for many guests.
We still would not be surprised if Walt Disney World announces a replacement for Disney’s Magical Express before 2022. This just seems like a really ill-advised and short-sighted decision. As discussed above, it’s also potentially a decision that’s out of their hands…
In other breaking news, Walt Disney World announced a permanent replacement for the temporarily-suspended Extra Magic Hours, and has confirmed that EMH will not return. Dubbed Early Theme Park Entry, the new perk will allow Walt Disney World resort guests to enter any of the four theme parks 30 minutes early each day.
Disney indicates that the new Early Theme Park Entry benefit helps better spread visitation across all four theme parks, while providing added flexibility by giving guests extra early park time on each day of their vacation and in the park of their choosing. Please note that guests need valid admission and a park reservation made via the Disney Park Pass system to enter a theme park.
The new Early Theme Park Entry offering will debut later in 2021 and will be promoted as part of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary offerings. No specific start date has been provided; our assumption is that move is deliberate. Walt Disney World can hold off on rolling it out until hotel occupancy and attendance levels dictate, with the latest debut date being October 1, 2021.
While we’re incredulous about the Disney’s Magical Express news, this announcement we do take at face value. In that same “Disappearing On-Site Advantage” article, we derided Extra Magic Hours as a mostly illusory benefit. Prior to the closure, we actively avoided Evening Extra Magic Hours due to the noticeable spike in crowds as compared to non-EMH evenings.
There are a number of reasons this has happened, but is primarily because the pool of Extra Magic Hours-eligible guests continues to increase. Walt Disney World has cut deals with third party hotels and also built several new Disney Vacation Club properties and otherwise added to its hotel room inventory.
For us, the jury is still out on this new Early Theme Park Entry benefit. We have every reason to believe this will do a better job of spreading out crowds, and could end up being a net positive for guests. Thirty minutes per day is obviously less than than the previous hour, but it’s better than nothing.
There’s also the reality that 30 minutes times 4 parks is a total of 2 hours per day across all of Walt Disney World, which is a net gain as compared to Extra Magic Hours. Obviously, a single guest without the resources for time travel cannot take advantage of that 2 hours, but the point is that this may not be a simple cost-cutting measure by Disney.
It could end up giving on-site guests more time before the wave of crowds hit–or it could amount to being pretty similar to the current unpublished policy of quietly opening the turnstiles before official park opening time. We’ll withhold judgment on this one until experiencing it ourselves.
While the specifics here are not exactly what we anticipated, that Walt Disney World would choose now to make these announcements is not unsurprising. As we covered months ago in What Will Replace FastPass+ at Walt Disney World? we expected these “temporary suspensions” to be a natural transition to new systems.
Ultimately, we expect plenty more announcements in the coming months about other, similar changes. As discussed in that article, we’d be shocked to see FastPass+ return without any changes. We’re also expecting the Disney Dining Plan and other experiences will have modifications once they return later in 2021. Then there’s the potential transition from My Disney Experience to Disney Genie (or whatever it ends up being called) which is another can of worms. In short, brace yourself for plenty more changes announced between now and October 2021…
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about Walt Disney World ending Disney’s Magical Express? Upset that you’ll have to rent a car or use Uber/Lyft, or did you find DME too inefficient, anyway? Thoughts on Early Theme Park Entry v. Extra Magic Hours? Disappointed that the amount of time is being cut, or optimistic that it’ll be less crowded during that time? Other thoughts on this? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We live a 5 hour drive from disneyland and have been 2 times in the last 15 years but its a 2000 plus mile drive to Disney world and we have been over 18 times in the same time frame. We love Disneyworld but my son who is a full size adult is confined to his wheelchair and tjis is the only transportation from the airport to the hotel. Already spend more than 5000 dollars for a week at disneyworld, not going to pay another 200 plus dollars for transportation from the airport. Its like all of the sudden disney is anti handicapped or something. Won’t be able to go anymore if this happens.
Can the resorts even accommodate the thousands of extra cars that will be needed for people who choose not to, or are not able, to rideshare?
So if they are removing Magical Express, where are the savings being given back to the customer? Sounds like more BS to me. They are forcing you to rent a car so they can charge you to park it and not use it. What a joke.
We are DVC members so we already pay for parking within our annual dues, so it does not affect us as much. We like renting cars so we can come and go around the property as we please, parking included. But for many, just a brutal blow. People need to react to it and hopefully they will come up with something else. Does this also mean no transportation for cruise guests?
I’m hoping Disney will replace the magical express with something else, because so many people utilize it. We personally do not, as we prefer to have our own car but so many do. As for extra magic hours, I wonder how this change will impact ppo adr’s? Will restaurants open even earlier, or will there no longer be an advantage?
Honestly – bad bad move on Disney’s part. They are raising prices and cutting services. They are making what was once an easy, all inclusive vacation, harder and harder to enjoy. I understand restrictions and temporary cuts because of Covid. But to take an important service away in 2022 and tell us to rent a car or take an Uber (all costing us more money) is just ridiculous. I was always a huge advocate of staying on site – Was looking to come the beginning of 2022 – that was the last straw – may stay off site, cut the Disney part of our trip short and go to the “other” park in the area for a few days also now. We used to try and vacation there almost every year. Cancelled 2 trips due to Covid. We were trying to wait for it to become “normal” again or as close to it as possible but all I hear is them cutting services. I don’t think they realize how important some of those services, like Magical Express, are for their guests. For some reason I’m not that excited to return any longer. If I’m going to rent a car and have to pay nightly to park at a resort, I’m staying off site and saving a huge amount per night. Might as well take those other hotel’s shuttles or pay for parking at the park. Still a big savings. They are losing sight of how convenience may outweigh the cost of staying on property is for some guests. Disappointed. No more magic bands, no more Magical Express….. not so magical anymore. 🙁
This is the worst news by far from Disney yet. The amazing start of our Disney family vacations was always putting on those Magical Express luggage tags in Boston and knowing we didn’t have to do another thing ourselves. Worth every penny of the overpriced onsite hotels. As many others have said, these “alternatives” are not alternatives at all for large families and families with small children, and was a huge part of choosing a WDW vaca over anything else. We bought a DVC 2 years ago (that’s how much we USED TO love Disney) and am really regretting that now.
I can’t believe Disneys Magical Express will be gone! DME is just that! The beginning of a Magical Vacation. Uber, Lyft ride sharing really! Try finding one at MCO for 5 people and a child Ugh! guess Disney doesnt want guests staying on property, little by little all the perks that justified staying at Wilderness Lodge are disappearing! So disappointing.
My family arrived on two very busy arrival days for WDW over Christmas break. On both days we were given an immediately available minivan ride with only one other group socially distanced of course. The other kids complained they wanted the big bus but we were very happy! The big buses were still operating to the Boardwalk though. We have also taken a Mears Town Car from the Waldorf Astoria on WDW property to the airport for $70 and they carry child seats if needed.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Disney building a train that will run from the airport to WDW? Here is a link to an article discussing this:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/disney-vacations/disney-world-new-brightline-train-station%3famp=true
I would much rather have this train system be available compared to DME. I have read nightmare stories about people waiting forever to get on those buses. Train systems like these typically run a much tighter schedule. This could be a huge improvement once it is completed.
Train is an OK option for some people. But not families with multiple small children and a bunch of luggage, that now has to be carried and transferred from Disney Springs (which is the only place the train goes), to whichever hotel you’re staying at…..and how do you get there? The Magical Express may have had some long waits, but nothing compared to the amount of time it will now take to wait at airport baggage claim for your luggage, drag it across the airport to the train station (it won’t be close), drag it on the train (how much room is that going to take up?), end up in DS, drag everything off the train, walk from the DS train station to a bus area, uber area, some area, to wait in line with the tons of other people now all trying to get the transportation (with all their luggage) to their resort. Nightmare! Not magical.
It could be great, but I have a hard time picturing collecting all of our luggage and boarding a train with all of our stuff AND our 5 kids, only to have to find a way from the Disney Springs station to our resort with all of said luggage and kids. Perhaps dragging it over to the resort specific bus stop? Landing at MCO at 10pm and just getting on DME, even if we had to stand still or wait a bit, or even end up being the third stop once on the bus is way way better than that.
This is a deal breaker for me and my family. It introduces additional hassle and headache, particularly at a time when there’s already far too much hassle and headache and overplanning needed to successfully do a Disney trip. In addition to skyrocketing costs.
With this loss, I can no longer justify solo trips, or weekend trips and be certain that I will be able to make my flights or arrive in good time.
So that means less trips for me, and when w the family, car is a must and at that point, may as well stay off property. If it were a ‘on hold till peak park attendance was possible, that would be understandable, but not this.
Great job, Disney. We’ll be back to our once in a 5-10 year visit vice our usual annual+.
Oh, and the loss of EMH sinches it even more. Wow. Way to kill every advantage you had over your massive and attractive competition – the whole rest of the world.
Yikes. That’ll push us to being slightly more likely to use an airbnb and drive rather than fly and stay on property. Dont really like having to rely on Uber and lyft. We drive sometimes anyways, usually fly when we don’t mind spending a bit extra to not have to worry about anything, and now it’s a little thing I’ll have to worry about. Not huge, but may lean me a different way here and there
Well this sucks.
Magic Express was just that – “Magic”. Disney chipping away more and more at the things that made Disneyworld special from all the rest.
In early 2022, we have family coming in to Florida from all over the world for a large reunion which we WERE going to spend on-property at DW. The ostensibly “minor” decision to kill Magic Express now makes that a logistical headache for us in terms of moving people and luggage into our rooms at DW. Going to have to change our plans now and go elsewhere that has free/convenient airport transfer service.
Bummer.
Magical Express is a huge reason we’ve ventured from the northeast (3 times) to Disney with 3 kids in car seats. No hassle renting or lugging car seats made the travel portion exponentially simpler! We had no need for a car because we liked the “bubble” of staying on property. Why pay for a rental car when you’re not going to use it until you leave? And who wants to shove multiple kids & car seats plus luggage into a Lyft or Uber…then house those car seats in a tiny hotel room? Not everyone will care about this change, but for families with young kids, multiple kids, or large groups flying in, I think this is potentially a game-changer in terms of paying Disney hotel prices. Maybe part of a long-term plan is to offer a similar service for an additional fee? I think it’s enough of a valued service that people will pay for it.
Who do we write to and complain? This is ridiculous. I have two children, like many others, that need car seats. Uber / Lyft aren’t an option unless I carry a car seat on the plane which is a tremendous pain. I have a group of 14 going in Nov. – that would be a huge pain from a ride sharing perspective.
I know Disney will do what they want – but how do we organize and make ourselves heard on this issue?
Terminal short-sightedness seems to be the norm for Disney executives. Disney is returning to the problems of the pre-Eisner era and will be dealing with this for the next 20 years.
No magical express is a terrible move!! I was weighing Disney or. Cruise for 2022. Disney doesn’t seem to care if we come or not, and the price of doing Disney is nothing to sneeze at. Plus still no dining plan, cruise has wonderful food. Disney maybe you better rethink some of this
So, EMH is gone replaced by letting Disney World resort guests in 30 minutes early. From what I have been reading in chat rooms, Disney has routinely been opening parks to guest 30 to 45 minutes ahead of the posted opening time. So, if I’m on-site and want to take advantage of the 30 minutes early perk (and I use the word “perk” loosely), do I need to arrive at the park 60 to 75 minutes ahead of the scheduled opening time to take advantage of the 30 minutes early or is Disney going to actually stick to their scheduled opening times? Thought I might consider a trip later this year but with all the changes, that seem to be just to get money into Disney’s pockets, don’t know if the trip will happen.
I was wondering the same thing. I visited Disney in October and was able to enter each park roughly an hour before posted opening time. I stayed offsite for the first time ever and the parking gate opened 1 hour before the park opened. I parked then walked straight into the parks. Magic Kingdom and Hollywood studios did not start any rides before park opening but I was able to go ahead and get in line for rides at both parks. However, I was able to ride 4 rides in Epcot before the park officially opened and 2 rides at Animal Kingdom before the park officially opened. i assumed it was in an effort to try to spread people out with the distancing restrictions. Maybe once this perk starts, they will stop allowing off site guests in before posted park opening time??
I’m actually not a fan of magical express. The one trip that we have used it for it added A LOT of time to our trip, especially on our departure back to MCO. We prefer to rent a car, and car rentals are still dirt cheap in Orlando. Getting off of a plane for a few hours only to be squeezed on to a bus with more people after waiting in another long time isn’t ideal when you’re tired and just want to get to your hotel. Yes, Disney continues to cut the advantages of staying at their properties, but their hotel prices have become so egregious that we’ve stopped caring about staying on site altogether. A week a Wyndham Bonnet Creek can be had in a 2 bedroom 1,200 sq ft condo for around $80-$100 a night with free parking and it is closer to many parks than several Disney owned hotels. Anyone who doesn’t have exorbitant amounts of money should think long and hard before paying Disney $175 a night for a value, $280 a night for a moderate, and $400-$800 a night for a deluxe hotel room.
“…car rentals are still dirt cheap in Orlando…”
Out of your own self-interest in seeing this remain true, you might want DME to stick around or have a replacement. 😉
Disappointed to hear about the end of DME, and I share your skepticism about the reasoning. I am precisely within the demographic the DME program was designed to “trap” on-site–transportation has been a HUGE consideration for me in deciding where to stay. Transportation within the bubble may still be enough to get me onsite, but the addition of airport transportation costs logistics to my trip planning is going to make me take a long, hard look at my offsite options.
DME is one of the huge perks we enjoyed – being out of the ‘real world’ for a week as soon as you stepped out of the airport was a big deal for us. It’s going to be a big cost and hassle to have to get transport from the airport, one more thing to worry about on the last day of the trip. This is beginning to become not so magical for us anymore. And that is really sad.
I am really disappointed in Disney taking away one of the best perks at staying at Disney World Hotels instead of hotels off the premises is getting a ride and your luggage taken care of – who wants to rent a car and pay to park when you are already paying a tremendous amount of money for a hotel room at Disney. This is one of the reasons we have always stayed at Disney Hotels – just the idea of a ride and don’t have to worry on how you will get to your hotel. Disney needs to totally rethink the Mickey Magical Express – they are getting away their true meaning of Disney is their customer service.